Many individuals wear a hair tie, such an elastic band, to keep their hair away from their face during certain activities. This style has also become fashionable where putting the hair into a ponytail presents a different look. The elastic band industry has grown tremendously with different styles, colors and sizes and elasticity being offered. Many individuals like to change their style throughout the day, wearing their hair down or putting it into a ponytail, depending on the look or functional activity they are performing. This poses an issue where an elastic band must keep the hair up, but it can easily get lose if being taken on and off constantly. This has caused many individuals to wear an elastic band around their wrist to ensure that they always have one around when needed.
A problem with wearing an elastic band is both the appearance, such as when an individual dresses up, and physical impact, such as forming a mark on the wrist due to the elastic band tightly fitting to a wrist and possible restriction in circulation of the arm. Solutions are offered to address the aesthetic part with many styles of elastic bands offered in different colors and with jewelry attached to the band but few if any solutions exist that properly address both issues at the same time; providing an aesthetically pleasing look and protecting the wrist from marks and poor circulation.
US patent application publication 2013/0133365, published May 30, 2013, describes a fully circumferential bracelet with a channel to wear a hair tie. Due to the circumferential design, the hair tie is located away from the wrist in a channel groove defined by the bracelet. Due to the inherent circumferential shape of the bracelet, it is difficult to remove the hair tie from the bracelet.
To solve this issue, the publication describes providing spaced indents along the circumference of the channel groove of the bracelet to allow fingers to grab the hair tie and remove it from the bracelet. These indents are not aesthetically pleasing and make the bracelet complicated, bulky and aesthetically limited. The indents prohibit or significantly reduce the ability to configure the bracelet with attractive features that make each bracelet unique in appearance because all bracelets made under the publication are recognized with the indents and must have significant bulk to accommodate such indents.
A significant trend is tracking activity with activity monitors. These activity monitors have been integrated into bracelets that also serve an aesthetic purpose. Certain companies promoting these type of bracelets include Nike with Fuelband, Fitbit and Jawbone. Technology of activity monitoring seems is similar, and companies differentiate on design and branding. A large segment of customers are young, active individuals. These users must remember to bring a hair tie to the gym and sometime wear them around their wrist so they don't forget them when they need them.